[⋆~Omona exclusive~⋆] Gone But Not Forgotten: Pristin, Pristin V & Hinapia
In this series I want to go through groups that are gone, but not forgotten. I will go from debut till disbandment or [indefinite] hiatus, remembering the time we had together and look back on their highs and lows.
Pristin
Pristin (stylized as PRISTIN) was a South Korean girl group formed by Pledis Entertainment in 2016. The group was composed of ten members: Nayoung, Roa, Yuha, Eunwoo, Rena, Kyulkyung, Yehana, Sungyeon, Xiyeon and Kyla. The group disbanded on May 24, 2019 when only 3 of the 10 members renewed their contract with Pledis Entertainment.
Pre-debut
The members Nayoung, Roa, Yuha, Eunwoo, Rena, Kyulkyung and Xiyeon competed together on Mnet's survival television show Produce 101, which aired from January 22 to April 1, 2016. While five of the members were eliminated, Nayoung and Kyulkyung became part of the final line-up for the project girl group I.O.I, which made its debut on May 4 with the single "Dream Girls".
Pledis Girlz
The group was officially announced as Pledis Girlz by Pledis Entertainment on March 23, 2016. On the same day, Eunwoo was featured on the song "Sickness" by Seventeen's Vernon as part of the soundtrack for the webtoon Love Revolution. Pledis Girlz held concerts from May 14 to September 10, 2016, in which the members performed weekly, with the exception of Nayoung and Kyulkyung, who were promoting with I.O.I at the time.
On June 27, they released the promotional single "We", which was written by Roa, Eunwoo, Sungyeon and Xiyeon. The music video for the song was used to introduce the members' profiles.
They held their last concert as Pledis Girlz, entitled Bye & Hi, on January 6, 2017, and then renamed to Pristin, a portmanteau of the words "prismatic" (bright and clear) and "elastin" (flawless strength).
2017-2018: Debut, moderate success and Pristin V
On March 2, 2017, Pledis Entertainment announced the group's debut through a teaser image.
On March 21, Pristin debuted and released their first mini album Hi! Pristin, accompanied by the title track "Wee Woo". They became the first rookie girl group to perform their debut song on a live broadcast during Mnet Present.
Although Pristin did not get their first win with Wee Woo, they enjoyed moderate success, with the album entering the Gaon Album Chart at number 4 for that week. In March alone, Pristin had sold 23,519 copies of their album, and by June 2017, they sold 42,299 copies.
Pristin was also part of the line-up for the KCON festival held in Japan on May 19.
On the same day, a remixed version of "Black Widow" was released as the album's second and final single, which was performed on a few music shows in order to conclude Hi Pristin's promotions.
On June 3, they performed at the 2017 Dream Concert at the Seoul World Cup Stadium.
Their second mini album Schxxl Out was released on August 23, along with the single "We Like". Pristin also enjoyed moderate success with this album, as it debuted at number 4 on the Gaon Album Chart for that week. Pristin also ranked at number 5 in a list of GG brand reputation rankings for September 2017.
The lyrics for We Like got changed, although Pledis never gave a statement about it, people speculated that the lyrics were criticized for alleging that it's difficult to see a woman paying the bill. Netizens also pointed out that the new, changed lyrics sounded better than the original ones.
Member Kyla had long been criticized by netizens for not being “skinny enough” to be an idol. Netizens made edits comparing her body to that of her members and much more. The hate only got worse, as Pristin held a fan sign to promote “Schxxl Out” where Kyla was given individual time to pose for the cameras and fansites but was largely ignored by them in favor of her members. On October 12, 2017, Pledis Ent announced that Kyla would take a break from activities due to health issues (much later, Kyla explained on her youtube channel she took a break because of a concussion). Kyla returned to the USA temporarily. Kyla's brother also had some online controversies, hurting her reputation even more.
By the end of 2017 Pristin performed at many awards shows and did very well, winning four Rookie of the Year (ROTY) awards. After awards season ended, many fans were expecting news about a Pristin comeback but got nothing. Pledis ignored fan questions and remained radio silent on the topic of Pristin’s comeback and Kyla’s health, which frustrated many fans. As a result, fans started to worry about the status of the group, whether they would have a comeback, and if Kyla would return to activities.
Things remained this way for about 8-9 months until May 2018, when Pledis announced the formation of PRISTIN V, consisting of members Nayoung, Roa, Eunwoo, Rena and Kyulkyung.
PRISTIN V was Pristin’s first and only subunit. It was speculated that Pledis was attempting to create a smaller Pristin with the more popular members and that this would be the group that was focused on, with the other 5 members getting little to no group activities.
PRISTIN V debuted May 28, 2018 with the single album “Like a V”, consisting of the title track “Get It” and the b-side “Spotlight”. “Like a V” peaked at number 5 on the Gaon Music Chart and “Get It” charted at 6 internationally. However, “Get It” failed to chart in Korea and did not do as well as Pristin’s previous releases. Promotions for “Get It” ended in mid-June.
After promotions for “Like a V” ended, there was little to no news on Pristin once again. On August 31st, 2018, Pledis released news that Kyulkyung would be making her solo debut in China with the single “Why” on September 6th. Kyulkyung continued to receive work in China, but there was no news about the other members or any sort of activities. The members themselves even stopped updating their Twitter and Instagram accounts. During this time, rumors began to pop up that member Xiyeon had terminated her contract with Pledis. Pledis quickly clarified saying it was false, but discontent over the lack of news contained to grow. Reports of member Kyla working at a carnival in L.A. surfaced, and rumors of disbandment began circulating Pristin.
As the year went on, a deleted report that Kyla had terminated her contract with Pledis surfaced. Although her sister clarified it was just a rumor, Pledis released no statement on it. The lack of news and no comebacks made fans furious.
In December of 2018, fans stuck Post-It notes to the walls of Pledis’s company building in hopes of galvanizing the company into giving Pristin a comeback. Not only were these notes ignored, the company didn't even take them down, showing that they were refusing to acknowledge the fans and Pristin. Pristin attended no end-of-year awards shows. 2018 ended with no news about the group.
2019: Disbandment
On February 15th, 2019, member Xiyeon attended her high school graduation. Usually when idols graduate, there is a special panel where they may take pictures with their members and the press may take photos of them. Pledis did not arrange for Xiyeon to get this treatment. She arrived at her own graduation ceremony via taxi, instead of a company car with a manager. All the pictures taken of her that day were candid, fan-taken photos. She did not receive any special awards which are common for idols to receive. Only one other member showed up at Xiyeon’s graduation, Sungyeon. All these and more led fans to believe that disbandment was imminent for Pristin, as the girls were not being treated like idols.
In April of 2019, the members began to open their own social media accounts. Usually, when this is done, it is a sign that a group is going to disband or is less focused on group work and more on solo work. While this is normal for a group that has been together for 5+ years, Pristin was barely two years old. Their second anniversary passed with no posts from their official accounts.
On May 24th, 2019, it was announced that Pristin had disbanded. Pledis announced that while members Kyulkyung, Yehana, and Sungyeon would stay with the company, the other seven members had all terminated their contracts and left Pledis.
Hinapia
Hinapia was a South Korean girl group formed by OSR Entertainment. The group was composed of five members: Minkyeung, Yaebin, Gyeongwon, Eunwoo, and Bada.
Minkyeung, Yaebin, Gyeongwon, and Eunwoo previously debuted as members of the girl group Pristin. On October 21, 2019, the aforementioned members were announced to be re-debuting under AlSeulBit Entertainment, which was renamed OSR Entertainment shortly after, alongside an additional member named Bada. On October 24, the group was revealed to be named Hinapia, which is an abbreviation of "Hi New Amazing Utopia".
2019: Debut with New Start
Hinapia performed their debut single "Drip" prior to its release on the music program Show Champion during its October 30, 2019 broadcast. The group formally released the single on November 3, 2019 as the lead single of the single album titled New Start. A showcase for the album titled Pursuit of a New Utopia was held the following day. "Drip" debuted and peaked at number 18 on the World Digital Songs Sales chart issued on November 16, 2019, making Hinapia the eleventh South Korean girl group to appear on the chart with their debut single. The group was subsequently nominated for Best Super Rookie at the 2019 K-Champ Awards.
2020: Disbandment
On February 2, 2020, it had been reported that Hinapia were aiming to release their sophomore album sometime in early 2020, in which the group will showcase "a more mature look than before".
On August 21, 2020, however, OSR Entertainment announced that the group had disbanded and that the members had their contracts terminated.
Previous:
Nine Muses, 4Minute, Girl's Day, Sistar, Secret, Orange Caramel, Rainbow, 2NE1, Dalshabet, Stellar, Miss A, After School, Spica, Hello Venus, Wonder Girls, f(x), Crayon Pop, WA$$UP, BESTie & GLAM, I.O.I.
Sources: Gifer, omona, Mnet K-POP, Hinapia, Pristin, quora, Soompi, MBCkpop, KBS kpop, noraemagazine, ALL THE K-POP
I would love to hear what you think about this week. Their story is just so unfortunate. Let me know what you think about all the issues with these groups? What would you have done differently? Can we fully blame Pledis for this or do you think there's more to the story?
I didn't go into their dating rumours with Seventeen simply because I couldn't find good sources. I also didn't go into Kyla's brother (for obvious reasons) but you can click the link for more information, but i would love to hear your opinion on those things as well. Earlier this year Kyla released new music, did you guys listen to it? Did you enjoy it?
Thank you as always for stopping by and for all the support! See you next time ♥
Pristin
Pristin (stylized as PRISTIN) was a South Korean girl group formed by Pledis Entertainment in 2016. The group was composed of ten members: Nayoung, Roa, Yuha, Eunwoo, Rena, Kyulkyung, Yehana, Sungyeon, Xiyeon and Kyla. The group disbanded on May 24, 2019 when only 3 of the 10 members renewed their contract with Pledis Entertainment.
Pre-debut
The members Nayoung, Roa, Yuha, Eunwoo, Rena, Kyulkyung and Xiyeon competed together on Mnet's survival television show Produce 101, which aired from January 22 to April 1, 2016. While five of the members were eliminated, Nayoung and Kyulkyung became part of the final line-up for the project girl group I.O.I, which made its debut on May 4 with the single "Dream Girls".
Pledis Girlz
The group was officially announced as Pledis Girlz by Pledis Entertainment on March 23, 2016. On the same day, Eunwoo was featured on the song "Sickness" by Seventeen's Vernon as part of the soundtrack for the webtoon Love Revolution. Pledis Girlz held concerts from May 14 to September 10, 2016, in which the members performed weekly, with the exception of Nayoung and Kyulkyung, who were promoting with I.O.I at the time.
On June 27, they released the promotional single "We", which was written by Roa, Eunwoo, Sungyeon and Xiyeon. The music video for the song was used to introduce the members' profiles.
They held their last concert as Pledis Girlz, entitled Bye & Hi, on January 6, 2017, and then renamed to Pristin, a portmanteau of the words "prismatic" (bright and clear) and "elastin" (flawless strength).
2017-2018: Debut, moderate success and Pristin V
On March 2, 2017, Pledis Entertainment announced the group's debut through a teaser image.
On March 21, Pristin debuted and released their first mini album Hi! Pristin, accompanied by the title track "Wee Woo". They became the first rookie girl group to perform their debut song on a live broadcast during Mnet Present.
Click to viewAlthough Pristin did not get their first win with Wee Woo, they enjoyed moderate success, with the album entering the Gaon Album Chart at number 4 for that week. In March alone, Pristin had sold 23,519 copies of their album, and by June 2017, they sold 42,299 copies.
Pristin was also part of the line-up for the KCON festival held in Japan on May 19.
On the same day, a remixed version of "Black Widow" was released as the album's second and final single, which was performed on a few music shows in order to conclude Hi Pristin's promotions.
On June 3, they performed at the 2017 Dream Concert at the Seoul World Cup Stadium.
Their second mini album Schxxl Out was released on August 23, along with the single "We Like". Pristin also enjoyed moderate success with this album, as it debuted at number 4 on the Gaon Album Chart for that week. Pristin also ranked at number 5 in a list of GG brand reputation rankings for September 2017.
The lyrics for We Like got changed, although Pledis never gave a statement about it, people speculated that the lyrics were criticized for alleging that it's difficult to see a woman paying the bill. Netizens also pointed out that the new, changed lyrics sounded better than the original ones.
Member Kyla had long been criticized by netizens for not being “skinny enough” to be an idol. Netizens made edits comparing her body to that of her members and much more. The hate only got worse, as Pristin held a fan sign to promote “Schxxl Out” where Kyla was given individual time to pose for the cameras and fansites but was largely ignored by them in favor of her members. On October 12, 2017, Pledis Ent announced that Kyla would take a break from activities due to health issues (much later, Kyla explained on her youtube channel she took a break because of a concussion). Kyla returned to the USA temporarily. Kyla's brother also had some online controversies, hurting her reputation even more.
By the end of 2017 Pristin performed at many awards shows and did very well, winning four Rookie of the Year (ROTY) awards. After awards season ended, many fans were expecting news about a Pristin comeback but got nothing. Pledis ignored fan questions and remained radio silent on the topic of Pristin’s comeback and Kyla’s health, which frustrated many fans. As a result, fans started to worry about the status of the group, whether they would have a comeback, and if Kyla would return to activities.
Things remained this way for about 8-9 months until May 2018, when Pledis announced the formation of PRISTIN V, consisting of members Nayoung, Roa, Eunwoo, Rena and Kyulkyung.
PRISTIN V was Pristin’s first and only subunit. It was speculated that Pledis was attempting to create a smaller Pristin with the more popular members and that this would be the group that was focused on, with the other 5 members getting little to no group activities.
PRISTIN V debuted May 28, 2018 with the single album “Like a V”, consisting of the title track “Get It” and the b-side “Spotlight”. “Like a V” peaked at number 5 on the Gaon Music Chart and “Get It” charted at 6 internationally. However, “Get It” failed to chart in Korea and did not do as well as Pristin’s previous releases. Promotions for “Get It” ended in mid-June.
After promotions for “Like a V” ended, there was little to no news on Pristin once again. On August 31st, 2018, Pledis released news that Kyulkyung would be making her solo debut in China with the single “Why” on September 6th. Kyulkyung continued to receive work in China, but there was no news about the other members or any sort of activities. The members themselves even stopped updating their Twitter and Instagram accounts. During this time, rumors began to pop up that member Xiyeon had terminated her contract with Pledis. Pledis quickly clarified saying it was false, but discontent over the lack of news contained to grow. Reports of member Kyla working at a carnival in L.A. surfaced, and rumors of disbandment began circulating Pristin.
As the year went on, a deleted report that Kyla had terminated her contract with Pledis surfaced. Although her sister clarified it was just a rumor, Pledis released no statement on it. The lack of news and no comebacks made fans furious.
In December of 2018, fans stuck Post-It notes to the walls of Pledis’s company building in hopes of galvanizing the company into giving Pristin a comeback. Not only were these notes ignored, the company didn't even take them down, showing that they were refusing to acknowledge the fans and Pristin. Pristin attended no end-of-year awards shows. 2018 ended with no news about the group.
2019: Disbandment
On February 15th, 2019, member Xiyeon attended her high school graduation. Usually when idols graduate, there is a special panel where they may take pictures with their members and the press may take photos of them. Pledis did not arrange for Xiyeon to get this treatment. She arrived at her own graduation ceremony via taxi, instead of a company car with a manager. All the pictures taken of her that day were candid, fan-taken photos. She did not receive any special awards which are common for idols to receive. Only one other member showed up at Xiyeon’s graduation, Sungyeon. All these and more led fans to believe that disbandment was imminent for Pristin, as the girls were not being treated like idols.
In April of 2019, the members began to open their own social media accounts. Usually, when this is done, it is a sign that a group is going to disband or is less focused on group work and more on solo work. While this is normal for a group that has been together for 5+ years, Pristin was barely two years old. Their second anniversary passed with no posts from their official accounts.
On May 24th, 2019, it was announced that Pristin had disbanded. Pledis announced that while members Kyulkyung, Yehana, and Sungyeon would stay with the company, the other seven members had all terminated their contracts and left Pledis.
Hinapia
Hinapia was a South Korean girl group formed by OSR Entertainment. The group was composed of five members: Minkyeung, Yaebin, Gyeongwon, Eunwoo, and Bada.
Minkyeung, Yaebin, Gyeongwon, and Eunwoo previously debuted as members of the girl group Pristin. On October 21, 2019, the aforementioned members were announced to be re-debuting under AlSeulBit Entertainment, which was renamed OSR Entertainment shortly after, alongside an additional member named Bada. On October 24, the group was revealed to be named Hinapia, which is an abbreviation of "Hi New Amazing Utopia".
2019: Debut with New Start
Hinapia performed their debut single "Drip" prior to its release on the music program Show Champion during its October 30, 2019 broadcast. The group formally released the single on November 3, 2019 as the lead single of the single album titled New Start. A showcase for the album titled Pursuit of a New Utopia was held the following day. "Drip" debuted and peaked at number 18 on the World Digital Songs Sales chart issued on November 16, 2019, making Hinapia the eleventh South Korean girl group to appear on the chart with their debut single. The group was subsequently nominated for Best Super Rookie at the 2019 K-Champ Awards.
2020: Disbandment
On February 2, 2020, it had been reported that Hinapia were aiming to release their sophomore album sometime in early 2020, in which the group will showcase "a more mature look than before".
On August 21, 2020, however, OSR Entertainment announced that the group had disbanded and that the members had their contracts terminated.
Previous:
Nine Muses, 4Minute, Girl's Day, Sistar, Secret, Orange Caramel, Rainbow, 2NE1, Dalshabet, Stellar, Miss A, After School, Spica, Hello Venus, Wonder Girls, f(x), Crayon Pop, WA$$UP, BESTie & GLAM, I.O.I.
Sources: Gifer, omona, Mnet K-POP, Hinapia, Pristin, quora, Soompi, MBCkpop, KBS kpop, noraemagazine, ALL THE K-POP
I would love to hear what you think about this week. Their story is just so unfortunate. Let me know what you think about all the issues with these groups? What would you have done differently? Can we fully blame Pledis for this or do you think there's more to the story?
I didn't go into their dating rumours with Seventeen simply because I couldn't find good sources. I also didn't go into Kyla's brother (for obvious reasons) but you can click the link for more information, but i would love to hear your opinion on those things as well. Earlier this year Kyla released new music, did you guys listen to it? Did you enjoy it?
Thank you as always for stopping by and for all the support! See you next time ♥